Fiery Crusade
by Marcus Crowley
Summary: A tale of two friends on a quest to eliminate every single charr from Ascalon.
1. The Charr Attack

_**I remind you all that Guild Wars in a copyright of Arena Net and NCSoft. All worlds and characters belong to them. The only things on this that are only partially theirs are the names Marcus Crowley and Palton De Nomin.**_

It was an ordinary day in Ascalon. It was sunny, warm. The grawl were hunting for their food and the river skale were as annoying as ever. But something wasn't right today. Some just felt awkward. This is what Prince Rurik was thinking to himself as he watched the happenings beyond the wall of Ascalon.

About two hours later Rurik spotted them. They were just dots on the horizon at the time but as they came closer he could see the wicker statues and the flame bearers marching next to them. The Charr were marching for Ascalon. Rurik said a quick prayer to Dwayna and sounded the alarm.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Marcus wa….p! The alar…is….ounding!" Marcus, a mesmer with short black hair and an affiliation with the element of air, can feel a pair of large hands shaking him as he slowly wakes from his slumber, "What was that?", he asks as he rolls over and puts his feet on the ground. He best friend Palton De Nomin, a warrior in blue armor who took a fancy to the teachings of the monks tells Marcus once more, "The alarm is sounding. Something big is happening. Get your cane and lets go see." Marcus shakes his head to wake himself up before he slips his boots on along with the rest of his attire. He then reaches over and grabs his cane and chakram from the wall and follows Palton from the room.

The two friend rush up the hill to Prince Rurik to see what was going on. When they reach him they notice the battle below them. Charr and Ascalon guards were doing battle just outside the wall. Marcus looks down at the carnage and utters a single word that summarizes his feelings, "Damn…" Palton on the other hand turns to Rurik, "How long has this fight been going on?" Rurik shakes his head and turns to Palton with the answer, "For about 20 minutes. And already we have lost twice as many men as the charr have." Marcus finally stops gawking at the battle and asks the Prince, "Any idea who is leading them? Or what drove them to attack us?" Rurik nods at Marcus's first question, "We have reports that a charr was spotted on this side of the wall. As for why they have attacked I don't know." Palton jumps on Ruriks comment of the charr on their side of the wall, "If there are charr this side of the wall then we should go and put an end to them now." Rurik nods to him, "That we must. You two go and get ready while I try and round up some others who are up for this task." Rurik walks off looking for others while the two friends head straight for the front gate of Ascalon to wait for Rurik.


	2. The Burning of Ascalon

As Marcus and Palton wait for Rurik to return they look around at the other adventurers who seem to be having fun dancing in the middle of the town. A lot of the dancers were rangers and were showing off their break dancing skills while the females were doing sexy dances in the middle of them.

Marcus looks over at Palton, "Normally you would run out there and dance with them. Why not now?"

Palton shakes his head and chuckles, "Because my dance would seem out of place amongst the rangers. Why don't you go out there and dance?"

Marcus laughs before replying, "River Dance." Palton Nods, "Ah I see." The two go back to waiting for Rurik in silence.

After about half an hour of waiting for him Rurik finally come to the gate with three other adventurers in tow. He nods to Palton, "Well then if everyone is ready then it is time we go and exterminate this pest in Ascalon." Palton and Marcus both grin to themselves at the thought as they follow Rurik out of the gate and to the cave where the Charr was last spotted.

Rurik stops and explains to them that they are hunting the Charr scout Vatlaaw Doomtooth and that if they died they would be resurrected at the shrine. He also mentioned something about Vatlaaw being protected but everyone was too excited to hear him.

The party of adventurers ran down the stairs and onto the path leading to the cave. When they reached the cave Palton cast his protection prayers on himself and readied his sword. Marcus walked on as if everything was just fine until he saw the first Grawl Shaman. He raised his cane and fired off a shot of chaos magic. When he had the grawls attention he cast backfire on it as Palton charged with his sword. The grawl tried to heal itself but only succeeded in hurting itself more. Palton reached it and skewered it on his sword and then flung it off of the sword and into a wall.

The party picked up what was dropped by the Grawl shaman and moved on into another party of Grawl. Marcus shouts over the screams of battle, "How many Grawl are in this cave!" Palton manages to yell back at him from the midst of the fight, "I don't know! But I'm pretty sure if we kill enough of them eventually they will run out!" Palton decapitates another Grawl in the fight sending its head spinning deeper into the cave.

The blood splattered crew made their way past the bodies and noticed a gleam of light at the end of the cave. They ran to it and saw the Charr Vatlaaw Doomtooth standing on a ledge looking out at Ascalon with two Grawl Shaman and two Grawl Longspear standing around him. The battle started with Marcus casting Empathy on Vatlaaw and Palton charging him with his sword while Rurik and the others took out the Grawl. Palton carved a long gash along Vatlaaw's side while Marcus fired bolt after bolt of Chaos Magic at him. Vatlaaw on the other hand was firing volley after volley of arrows at the person with the weakest armor, Marcus. Palton jumped up and buried his sword deep into Vatlaaw's throat to finally finish him off. Vatlaaw feel to the ground with his thick blood spewing onto the cave floor.

Palton turned around and saw Marcus with a few arrows stuck in him. Two in his legs and one in his shoulder. Marcus grimaces before saying ,"Ouch!" He pulls the one out of his should and Palton gets the two in his legs before they heal him.

The party was celebrating in the cave over the victorious battle when they saw it. The new weapon that the Charr had. They wheeled it up to the wall and fired into the air. Huge fireballs descended on Ascalon as people ran for cover. Rurik mutters to himself, "Dwayna help them." As the city is set aflame. The party turns and runs as fast as they can back to the ruins of Ascalon.

to be continued

_**I didn't put this last time but please R&R.**_


	3. Despair in the Wreckage

I repeat. None of this shit is mine except Marcus. Palton belongs to a friend of mine who has given me permission to use him. Everything else is property of Arenanet and NCsoft.

As Palton, Marcus, and Prince Rurik make their way through the wreckage of the academy they make mental notes of all those who were slain in the searing. All of those who were slain in the academy were struck down by the explosions and falling rubble. There were no major cuts or arrows in the corpses, just bones sticking out at odd angles and the occasional charred flesh. Palton stops and examines some of the corpses noticing that most of them are still young, some not even twenty years of age, "They will pay for this." he mutters to himself as they near the shattered doorway of the academy.

The Trio push through the doors which fall off of their hinges after opening. They quickly survey their surroundings before continuing on their way to what used to be the main entrance to Ascalon. On the way, Marcus stops when he notices something out of the ordinary. Rurik turns and walks back to Marcus with a questioning look, "What is the matter?" Marcus points to a nearby corpse and Rurik's eyes widen, "That corpse, it has been cut open." "Which means the Charr have come this way." Palton finishes Marcus's sentence as he walks over to the others. Marcus nods, "And if the Charr have been here, but not where we have just come from, then that means…." before Marcus can finish his theory and arrow flies over a hill behind the three and sinks deep into Marcus's calf, splintering a section of his shin bone and puncturing through to the other side sending a small blood spray onto Rurik's boot, "OW! FUCK!" Marcus screams as he falls to one knee.

Palton and Rurik run toward the Charr patrol as Marcus removes the arrow lodged in his leg. As Palton comes up over the hill a Charr axe warrior roars and charges him. Palton reacts quickly enough and thrusts his flaming sword down the unlucky axe warrior's throat. Off to the left of the now choking Charr, Rurik is fighting a Charr fire caller. The fire caller continues to block Rurik with his fire rod as Rurik swings wildly. Suddenly a sword impales the fire callers head. Following the sword is Palton, who knocks the fire caller down and pulls his sword from the head. Palton and Rurik turn toward the Charr hunter that had fired the first arrow in time to see a lightning bolt punch through its chest. Palton looks back at a limping Marcus with his cane still glowing from the magic. Marcus smirks at Palton, "When will they learn that what they do to me always comes back to bite them in the ass?" Palton and Rurik laugh, "As soon as you let one of them live to tell the others." Palton manages to say between laughs. The three sit down to rest as Palton helps heal Marcus's leg wound.

Before they go to leave the area, Palton pulls a large knife from a sheathe on his hip and stands. He then proceeds to skin one of the Charr corpses. Rurik looks at what Palton is doing and then back at Marcus questioningly, "What in the name of Dwayna is he doing?" Marcus chuckles to himself, "He is getting materials. He makes his armor out of Charr skin." Rurik nods and turns back to watch the spectacle in time to see a large tooth fly in front of his face. Marcus catches the tooth, "And I like to take souvenirs." Marcus says as he puts the tooth in a pocket on the inside of his shirt.

The party continues on their journey leaving three skinned corpses each missing a tooth behind. As they near the center of town Marcus notices a small child climbing out of a ruined home and immediately hisses. Rurik looks around puzzled, "Is there a cat around here?" Palton chuckles, "No but there is a child. Marcus hates them." "Annoying little buggers." Marcus mutters in the background. Rurik runs to the child to comfort it as Palton takes Marcus's cane away so he cant attack the child. Palton walks over to Rurik and the child while Marcus stays behind.

"He says he can't find his parents." Rurik tells Palton as he nears, "Then we should find them." Palton says before the child speaks up, "They said they were going to see the guild registrar up on the hill. But then everything starting blowing up." Palton looks up the hill and notices many Charr patrolling the area. He also notices they are all Charr hunters which would group tightly when attacking a target. Rurik looks into the child's eyes, "You stick close to us. We will find your parents." the kid nods and takes Rurik's hand. After hearing this, Marcus runs past Palton and grabs his cane. He then runs as fast as possible up the hill away from the child with Palton close behind.

Marcus and Palton stop behind some rocks out of sight of the Charr hunters to plan their strategy. Once they are agreed Palton stands and charges the patrols. He runs straight through the center of every patrol and when he passes the last one he squats down behind his shield blocking the barrage of arrows. Once the Charr had grouped together Marcus jumps up and casts his Chaos storm on the center of the group. Electrocuting all of the Charr to death.

Rurik and the child arrive at the top of the hill in time to see the Charr fall. They stop and watch next to Marcus who notices the child almost immediately and begins to twitch. Palton stands and shouts to Rurik, "You might want to get the child away from Marcus!" Rurik looks over at the twitching Marcus, who is grinning menacingly at Rurik and the child both, and slowly slinks away.

Marcus and Palton sit down and rest while Rurik helps the child look for his parents in the wreckage. A minute later they could hear the child crying on the other side of a wall. Palton and Marcus stand at the same time. Palton runs to the child while Marcus walks over maintaining his distance from the child. As soon as they round the wall they see the cause of the child crying. Two corpses lie in the corner, a man and a woman, both had their stomachs cuts open and their bowels littered the ground around them. Rurik and Palton kneel next to the child and comfort him in his mourning while Marcus bows his head in silence behind them.

To Be Continued

Please R&R


End file.
